Friary Drop-In Allotment

The past financial year has been one of mixed fortunes for the allotment team.  On the debit side there have been two people sadly no longer with us, and a change of occupation for Emma, the previous Allotment Supervisor. The plus side is we have just been joined by Malcolm Lewis as the new Horticultural Support Worker. A record mild winter has also helped work to progress on site.

The poly-tunnel has been completed and has been a very useful structure for establishing vegetables, especially by extending the growing season. This has enabled us to supply the volunteers and the Drop-In with small amounts of winter salads for most of the cold weather period. The volunteers have acquired new skills with this project, such as construction from scrap (skip-found) wood, of the end frames and doors, as well as working together as a team in stretching the plastic covering over.

The yield of vegetables grown is roughly comparable with last year’s, and on one day last July, 126lb of courgettes alone were picked. It has not, by any means, been all plain sailing though, our tomatoes were badly depleted by a major outbreak of tomato blight, and the peas by an influx of weevils. This happens occasionally on sites using the principles of organically grown produce. The positive side of this is that all our vegetables cropped are 99% free of any man-made chemicals, which cannot be a bad thing in promoting good health in the volunteers and Drop-In clients.

The volunteers have been kept warm and busy in the colder months by landscaping and revising the shape of some of the vegetable beds. Most of the beds now have been raised to 10-15cms. in height, with lots of well-rotted manure, compost and leaf mould vigorously dug in to aid both drainage in winter and water retention in summer - the majority of this being done by Jane, our ‘human rotavator’. Although having moved recently from Bridgford to new premises 6 miles away, her unshakable faith in allotments and fresh vegetables has not put her off bussing in to help as one of our regular team.

Steve unfortunately passed away this winter: his dry wit and enthusiasm for plants will be sorely missed. Sheila Mountford’s recent untimely departure has left great sorrow. A much valued colleague, she will leave an irreplaceable gap. The dignified, personalised service at St. Luke’s comforted some allotment volunteers who attended, but in all honesty the tears down others’ cheeks were a true human testimonial to the help and support which Sheila has shown to many. Our thoughts and blessings go out to her family.

Emma Bowen-Jones is wished good luck with her new venture in commercial horticulture over in Lincolnshire. With her enthusiasm and horticultural knowledge, she will be well armed to make a success of it. We will all miss her, and all wish to thank her for her kindness, compassion and drive.

To future plans now - a lot of time will be spent this summer in re-roofing the amenities shed, which is showing its age now! I see this as a new goal for those volunteers who want to develop their construction and woodworking skills in addition to horticultural ones. This to be achieved in a safe, small team. Ann and Mark have kindly found an adviser on call for some of the more academic load-bearing Health and Safety questions. A slight reduction in vegetable and flower propagation is foreseen this season due to this construction task, and also to spending slightly more time with volunteers dealing with any welfare or personal issues.

May I use this opportunity to thank other members of staff for their support, and all the volunteers for the hard work, enthusiasm, humour and weatherproof qualities provided by them this past season.